Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline

Purpose: A Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (FWA) Program is a mechanism for employees or members of the public to report activities perceived to be misconduct, violations of City policy or ethics, theft, waste, or misuse of City assets. The objective of a FWA program is to identify and stop loss of City resources and act as a deterrent to fraud, waste, and abuse.

In order to facilitate reports of fraud, waste, or abuse, a FWA hotline is administered by Lighthouse Services Inc. Lighthouse receives calls on the FWA hotline and forwards the incident report to the City’s Internal Auditor. This program is specifically designed to address financial issues thus, please do not use this program to report grievable labor issues, or political beliefs, which should be reported to the Human Resources Department. Matters of threat to a person should be reported to the Sheriff’s Office by calling 911.

Benefits of a Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Program

There are numerous benefits to a Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Program. It is important for not only identifying and quantifying losses to the City, but also preventing future losses. Specific benefits include:
• Identification and termination of occurrences of fraud, waste, and abuse.
• Recovery of funds as a result of investigations.
• Deterrence of inappropriate behavior by increasing awareness of these actions
• A safe mechanism for employees and the public to voice concerns and report suspected
inappropriate activity.
• Commitment to the City’s core values through the promotion of the program.
• Improvement in the City’s internal control processes.
• Enforcement of an ethical work environment.

What to Report:

A. FRAUD DEFINITION
Fraud is defined as a dishonest and deliberate course of action that results in obtaining money, property, or an advantage to which City employees or an official committing the action would not normally be entitled. Fraud also encompasses intentional misleading or deceitful conduct that deprives the City of its resources or rights. There are three categories of fraud. They include 1) financial statement fraud, 2) misappropriation of assets, and 3) corruption. Examples of fraud include but are not limited to:
• Falsifying financial records to cover up theft.
• Theft or misuse of city money, equipment, supplies, and/or other materials.
• Intentionally misrepresenting the costs of goods or services provided.
• Falsifying payroll information.
• Use of city equipment or property for personal use/gain, non-business reasons.
• Submitting false vouchers for reimbursements.
• Soliciting or accepting a bribe or kickback.
• Intentional use of false weight or measures.

B. WASTE DEFINITION Waste is defined as the needless, careless, or extravagant expenditure of City funds, incurring of unnecessary expenses, or mismanagement of City resources or property. Waste does not necessarily involve private use or personal gain, but almost always signifies poor management decisions, practices, or controls. Examples of waste include but are not limited to:
• Purchase of unneeded supplies or equipment outside of established limits.
• Purchase of goods at inflated prices without appropriate bids or research.

C. ABUSE DEFINITION Abuse is defined as the intentional, wrongful, or improper use or destruction of City resources, or seriously improper practice that does not involve prosecutable fraud. Abuse can include the excessive or improper use of an employee or an official's position in a manner other than its rightful or legal use. Examples of abuse include but are not limited to:
• Failure to report damage to city equipment or property.
• Using one's position in one city department to gain an advantage over another city resident when
conducting personal business in another city department.
• Serious abuse of city time such as significant unauthorized time away from work or significant use of
city time for personal business.
• Abusing the system of travel reimbursement.
• Receiving favors for awarding contracts to certain vendors.
• Using city property, information or position for personal gain or resulting in extra or special charges to
the City.
• Appropriating or diverting any business opportunity or idea in which the city might have an interest.
• Competing with the City in an inappropriate way.
• Failure to disclose a conflict of interest.
• Participating in decision making where a conflict of interest resides.
• Improper use of supervisory authority in response to an employee taking action or refusing to take
action.